The Once and Future Thing Part One: Weird Western Tales
"The Once and Future Thing Part One" is the twelfth episode of . It first aired on January 22, 2005. Plot Part I: Western Weird Tales In the future Gotham City, Enid Clinton scolds her husband, David, about clogging up the garage with his collection of historical artifacts. Timidly, he tries to explain their importance: they are originals that he retrieved from their respective time periods, using a time machine he built. Enid's initial amazement turns to fury, and she delivers an even more blistering scolding, saying that he could have used the machine to make them rich and powerful instead. "You invent a time machine and can't think of anything useful to do with it?!" He shoots back, "I can think of one thing!" and activates his machine, disappearing into a time portal. In the present day, Batman and John Stewart are lunching in the Watchtower's commissary. Though Shayera has rejoined the League, John denies any awkwardness, claiming he's moved on and is now seeing Vixen. Shortly after Wonder Woman joins them, an intruder alarm sounds. The three of them find David trying to steal one of Batman's utility belts. He escapes into a time portal, and they follow. They arrive in the middle of the Oklahoma Territory in 1879. After turning the tables on a trio of highwaymen, they adopt cowboy clothes and ride into the nearest town, Elkhorn. Right away they see what is wrong: the new "sheriff," Tobias Manning and his thugs are equipped with radically advanced weapons. After losing a hand of poker, Manning throws his opponent in jail. The League go to break him out, and he introduces himself as Bartholomew Aloysius Lash, a.k.a. Bat Lash. His cell mate is David, who explains that Manning stole his time machine and has been using it to poach advanced technology from the future and make himself ruler of the town. As they leave the jail, they are attacked by Manning's thugs, who are overcome by a sort of Wild West Justice League, to which Bart belongs: Jonah Hex, El Diablo, and Ohiyesa Smith, the former sheriff of Elkhorn. Banding together, the new and old Leagues travel to Manning's headquarters in the desert; his men confront them with an arsenal of bizarre weapons, including robotic dinosaurs, main battle tanks, and android exoskeletons. They overcome his men, and Smith personally bests Manning in a knife fight. Freed, David snatches the time belt away and disappears into another portal. Again, Batman, John, and Wonder Woman follow him. This time, they arrive in the future Gotham City and are immediately confronted by the Jokerz: Bonk, Chucko, Dee Dee, Ghoul, and Woof. They are soon joined by that era's Justice League Unlimited: Batman, Static, and Warhawk. As they square off against the Jokerz, Warhawk catches sight of John and says, "Dad?" :[[The Once and Future Thing Part Two: Time, Warped|'To Be Continued...']] Cast Other characters *Gypsy *Stargirl *Booster Gold and his computer, Skeets *Supergirl *Commander Steel *Elongated Man *Hawkgirl *Static *Batman (Terry McGinnis) *Bonk *Dee Dee *Chucko *Woof *Ghoul Title * The title is a pun on "The Once and Future King" by T.H. White. * "Weird Western Tales" was a DC Comics series that featured many of the DC Universe's western character's adventures. Continuity * This episode features a Western-style rendition of the original theme. * It is possible that Batman recognizes Jonah Hex's name, having heard his story from Ra's al Ghul in the episode "Showdown." * Warhawk first appears in the Batman Beyond episode, "The Call." His parentage is not explained in that episode. Cultural References * Both episodes are thematically very similar to "The Savage Time", the finale of , Season One. In that episode, the League travels back in time to World War II, and finds history altered because of technology contributed from the future, and also finds itself assisted by a a host of DC Comics heroes created for that era. * Likewise, in this episode, the Wild West Justice League is composed of heroes from DC Comics' series of comics taking place in that era: Jonah Hex, Bat Lash, El Diablo, and Sheriff Ohiyesa Smith. * Tobias Manning is better known in the DC Comics universe as Terra-Man. Once and Future Thing Part One: Weird Western Tales, The Once and Future Thing Part One: Weird Western Tales, The